According to new team owner and CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon, the sense of urgency for the Indianapolis Colts “has never been higher” following another late season collapse that saw her franchise lose 7 straight games and be eliminated from playoff contention yet again—after such a promising 8-2 start.
As you may likely recall, the Colts have not made the playoffs since 2020, which was the COVID-19 year.
That added pressure will fall squarely on the shoulders of her top leadership, longtime general manager
Chris Ballard, who’s entering Year 10 with the franchise, and soon-to-be 4th-year head coach Shane Steichen—both of whom Irsay-Gordon announced will return for at least the 2026 campaign.
Ballard is entering the last year of his current contract, which Irsay-Gordon remains undecided on a potential extension, while Steichen is signed with the Colts through 2028 on his rookie head coaching deal.
Regarding newfound optimism for Ballard, despite a lack of consistent meaningful results to-date, with just 1 playoff win and 0 division titles in his lengthy tenure, she commended him for adapting and adjusting his approach —presumably hinting at his rare aggressiveness in the first tiers of free agency last offseason.
Irsay-Gordon opened by thanking the fans for their continued support, and that she and her sisters were ‘pissed off’ at the results, which simply weren’t good enough this season.
She noted that it was a tale of two halves of the 2025 season, after injuries obliterated the Colts’ playoff hopes, but that there were a lot of encouraging signs prior to the franchise’s latest second half, late season collapse.
She reiterated that the Colts losing 7 straight games was unacceptable, and that the team will need to find a better way to finish games late and overcome adversity—turning to both Ballard and Steichen this offseason to fix the re-occurring critical issues that plagued the team later in the season and their frustrating inability to close out games.
Irsay-Gordon noted that injured starting quarterback Daniel Jones came in with a chip on his shoulder and had something to prove, giving his teammates hope in the process, before suffering his season-ending Achilles injury—which she answered that it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on further.
She reportedly had no hesitancy on the prior Sauce Gardner deal just ahead of the NFL’s trade deadline.
In the end though, while stopping short of saying ‘playoffs or bust,‘ last year was already publicly postured as a ‘make-or-break’ season for the Colts top leadership—including Ballard, Steichen, and 3rd-year quarterback Anthony Richardson.
Why the sense of urgency wasn’t as high as it purportedly is now remains a bit peculiar?
Even though it wasn’t explicitly stated, it seems to me as though ownership is providing both Ballard and Steichen a ‘mulligan’ because of the critical second half injuries to key players that decimated the Colts’ once very promising playoff hopes.
However, those same injuries won’t necessarily absolve Richardson, who was injured himself, and who many speculate could be on his way out of Indianapolis via an offseason trade. For the record, Irsay-Gordon said she would ‘stay in her lane’ regarding any potential evaluation of Richardson and his continued status with the team.
As it stands though, Irsay-Gordon issued both Ballard and Steichen a vote of confidence that they’ll be back for at least next season—although it’s shaping up be ‘playoffs-or-bust’ AGAIN, even if no one actually stated it. However, one would have to think that it’s actually (and hopefully) for real this time.
